ChumpCars return this weekend, with Bracket Drag Racing

July 29, 2014

Start with $500 junkers, add teams of four drivers and then send them off on Brainerd International Raceway’s 2.5-mile Competition Road Course for a seven-hour endurance race, and you’ve got the ChumpCar World Series.

The Chumps return to BIR this weekend for a Dual Event Weekend with the Bracket Drag Racing Series, which features the Paul Bunyan Classic for the Stock/Super Stock class. Racers will be gunning for a piece of two $4,000 purse, so fans can expect to see big car counts and great racing action.

BIR has become a regular stop for the ChumpCar World Series, which features cars worth $500 or less and teams of four drivers. The teams are on the track for seven-hour endurance races on Saturday and Sunday, with the team that completes the most laps being crowned “Chump Champ” each day.

Reno Loeffelholz is the driver to beat in Pro ET.

Check out the creative themes each of the teams come up with, including, in most cases, clever paint jobs and team names.

The races start at 9 a.m. both days and end at 4 p.m. An awards ceremony is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday.

On the drag strip, drivers will be battling for series points as the end of the season nears. This is the fifth weekend race for the six-weekend series, so points will be at a premium in all 10 classes. Expect to see more than 250 dragsters, cars, trucks, bikes, snowmobiles and Junior Dragsters compete, with eliminations and class winners announced both Saturday and Sunday.

Time trials and qualifying start at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, followed by elimination rounds.

Sponsored by Line Performance, the Paul Bunyan Classic is presented by Midwest Class Racers. There’s a $4,000 guaranteed purse Saturday and Sunday, with both winners taking home $2,000 each. Runners-up win $1,000 each.

Daily admission is $20 and tickets can be purchased at the gate. Kids 12 and under are free. Camping is free as well, with the purchase of a multi-day ticket.